From BZ
She will never forget this victory!
At the European Athletics Championships in Munich, Gina Lückenkemper (25) sprinted to the greatest triumph of her career so far. She won gold in the 100 meters and officially made herself the fastest woman on the continent.
Just three years ago, however, Lückenkemper celebrated a completely different achievement – she triumphed over the Spanner cameras!
At the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha (Qatar), cameras installed in the sprinters’ starting blocks caused a stir.
They filmed the athletes from below before the start, intended to bring the intense seconds before the races closer to the spectators. The camera filmed but in the crotch. A no-go for Lückenkemper.
She complained, “Was there a woman involved in the development of this camera? I do not think so.”
The Spanner camera caused a stir at the 2019 World Cup in Doha Photo: picture alliance/dpa
And further: “I find it very uncomfortable to climb over this camera in the tight stuff to go into the block. I don’t think these cameras are that great.”
In addition to Lückenkemper, the German sprinter Tatjana Pinto (30) also complained. For the woman from Münster it was “very questionable to place the camera there.”
When the athletes, like Gina Lückenkemper here, climbed into the starting block, the camera filmed precisely on the intimate area Photo: ARD Screenshot
Following the camera criticism, the Athletics Association (IAAF until 2019, World Athletics since then) reacted and only showed the images from the Spanner camera seconds before the start of the race, when the athletes had already climbed onto the starting block.
This is how Lückenkemper defeated the Spanner cameras – even if they would probably prefer success on the track.